As the development drought eases one town has found itself facing a different kind of shortage — a serious lack of industrial property and warehouse space.
“Driven by strong levels of investment, take-up of space has risen and there is now a critical situation where demand has out-stripped supply with no new commercial buildings competed in Wellingborough for about five years,” says Northamptonshire-based agents Prop-Search. In response to the market town’s stronger than normal recovery several mothballed projects are being revived and new projects planned.
Among the company’s moving to Wellingborough — 70 miles north of London and with less than 3,000 registered businesses — is Prologis, the global owner and operator of industrial and distribution real estate.
The company, which already manages 20m sq ft of industrial space across the UK, has been granted outline planning permission for a new £150m logistics park at Appleby Lodge, just off Park Farm. The two-million sq ft site will create up to 2,500 jobs and will be developed in phases to offer a variety of facilities. Prologis will now submit a detailed planning application with initial work starting next year.
Local councillors are also considering a substantial new expansion to the north of the town. The 620-acre Upper Redhill scheme secured planning permission from the Secretary of State for the Environment in February, 2010. Consent was granted for 3,000 new homes and 270,000sq ft of business space, with shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. It is understood the borough council is negotiating the sale of local authority land to allow the first two phases of the three-phase project to start.
The biggest boost to the town’s revival, however, is the £500m Stanton Cross project, which could see Wellingborough grow in size by about a third.
Earlier this year, the council compulsory purchased land needed to build a county council funded main road into the development, known as Route 4. The project, expected to take up to 15 years to complete, will include more than 2.4m sq ft of business, industrial and retail space and 3,200 private and social houses. It will create up to 7,500 temporary and permanent jobs.
Incorporated within the development is £100m of infrastructure projects such as a new railway station, three rail and four river bridges and two primary schools. The first Station Island phase involves the construction of roads and bridges into the site.
Prop-Search says developer deals have also been agreed on four Wellingborough brown field sites, totalling more than 14 acres. The proposed schemes are for a mix of uses including industrial, retail and leisure. One recently sold three-acre plot on London Road is the former Whitworths Bakery with construction due to start in mid-2014.
Also underway is the electrification and upgrading of the rail link to London St Pancras. This has the potential to reduce commuter journey times and, with the opportunity of moving the Luton and Bedford stations to Thames Link line, would make Wellingborough the first stop out of London.
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